Morigakure no Sato
by Jin Hikari
Summary: Naruto's rush to get back together with his team in the Forest of Death causes him to abandon a group of a thousand Kage Bunshin, and the Gogyou Fuuin has some unexpected effects. It's not long before the clones find out that they can't dispel. What's a group of Naruto clones left to do when they've got no orders to follow and no Boss to listen to? Simple. They get to live.
1. The One Thousand

**Hey there everyone,**

**Some of you may remember a bit of my older, deleted works. I was going through a lot of it and just wasn't seeing anything good. Nothing was structured well, and I wasn't really a fan of the way things were going. I want to post this up here again to try out the whole fanfiction thing again, but also as sort of an apology to all my old readers. How Things Could Have Been may make a return with a fourth or fifth rewrite (I honestly forget) at some point in time, but definitely not right now.**

**That being said, I always had a soft sport for Morigakure ever since I first came up with the idea. Hopefully, people can tell me whether or not they think it's worth continuing. I'll probably keep writing it regardless of what I get in the reviews, but whether I keep posting here or not or even try to maintain a writing schedule will all depend on what the response I get. I don't have high hopes, so likely any form of positive response will net continued posting. I simply can't guarantee regular updates, though.**

**Typical disclaimers of the source material apply. I don't own Naruto.**

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><p>When experiencing something for the first time, people often tell you to take in all the sensations that come along with it. For instance, when one goes on their first adventure outside their own village, or perhaps even to another village entirely, the new experiences allow them to start admiring their surroundings much more than they do in their own habitat. The smell of the air, the differences in climate, and even the demeanor and culture of the people can be different and fascinating all at the same time. It was for those reasons that Uzumaki Naruto loved new experiences.<p>

**"GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DON'T LIKE BEING DIGESTED!"**

Then again, when the new thing you're experiencing is being eaten alive by a giant snake you tend to not focus on enjoying your surroundings so much as getting out of them as fast as possible.

_"Why the hell am I even screaming? No one's around to hear. Sasuke-teme and Sakura are off on their own. Stupid team! Where are you when I actually need you!?"_ the blonde mentally groaned. He had to figure out a way to free himself from this creature's gut. Maybe give it a bad enough stomach ache that it puked? Could snakes even puke? Naruto knew that typically the human stomach had a way to evacuate volatile contents if need be, like on the few occasions when he'd actually managed to eat too much ramen.

Mmm, ramen.

Wait, ramen! That was it! He just had to fill this thing's gut to the point where he could get out!

"Alright, here it goes. Better make a lot just to make sure. _Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_

The following sight was…well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. After all, we need not go into the gory details of exactly how the snake's whole body bloated with the sudden appearance of an even one thousand clones of the blonde that instantly sprung to life. So many bodies in one place caused the fleshy cell to rip and tear open at first. These tears would only get worse and worse until the snake was literally pulled apart by the sheer force of the clones' distortion of space. Blood, guts, and feces would fly in every which direction, painting the forest as red as the Sharingan. Yes, thank God for the smoke from the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, lest prying eyes be exposed to such distasteful details.

A thoroughly blood-drenched Naruto stood panting, glad to be free. In fact, his newfound freedom was all that was on his mind. Screw his shadow clones; they could dispel themselves later. Right now, his only concern was rushing to his team's aid. So that's just what he did, leaving the army of him behind to figure out what to do with themselves.

"Wait, did Boss just totally ditch us? What are we supposed to do now!?" clone 419 piped up.

27 scratched his chin thoughtfully along with several other clones whose numbers need not be mentioned. "Well, I suppose we could just hang out. I don't think it was in Boss's plan to take us along for the ride. Does anybody have an idea of what we could do until we pop?"

Somehow at this point in time, Naruto had neglected to realize that he would keep the memories of the clones that he had created. That didn't mean the memories weren't there, it simply meant that he chose to ignore them. The clones, however, did no such thing. They all remembered the long waits their predecessors had experienced when given the command to stay in one spot and not move. After all, if the clones could say one bad thing about their creator, it was that he was terribly forgetful.

"Did anyone remember to pack shougi? I bet I could beat all of you at once!" clone 333 exclaimed, only to be instantly silenced and dispelled by a bop to the head. It was a little known fact that the clones that had consecutive numbers in their creation allotment were more prone to being a bit whack-o, but it was a trait that only really stood out when you could create as many as a certain blonde-haired Jinchuuriki, especially when he wasn't all that stable to begin with.

With their numbers already shaved down to nine hundred and ninety nine, the rest of the clones simply sat in silence. They didn't want to dispel just yet, as they rather enjoyed existing at the moment. That was the thing about being a Kage Bunshin. You were aware that you were a clone while at the same time thinking yourself to be real. It was easy to dispel when hit, or when told to by your boss, but otherwise there would always be a nagging instinct of self-preservation to keep you around.

1000 had propped himself up against the trunk of a sturdy tree, arms crossed and eyes shut. He rather enjoyed the weather here. It had been a warm and sunny day when Naruto and his team had entered the forest. Now with the sunlight dimmed thanks to the forest's canopy, the warmth could be fully enjoyed.

_"Hey Boss, we should camp out here during the summer. The weather's pretty nice today, huh?"_ he thought. 1000 knew that Boss would take up all the memories that these clones had when they popped, and he thought that if he threw in something original then there'd be a better chance of him standing out. Really, it was just typical Naruto; craving attention even if it was from himself.

The next few minutes passed blandly. None of the clones really did anything. They were simply waiting for something to happen, or perhaps for their internal clocks to run out so they could dispel. That was when things took a turn for the worse.

All the remaining Naruto clones clutched their stomachs and coughed up a storm simultaneously. It was almost as if they'd all taken a hit to the gut. Clone 1000, being oddly sensible, unzipped his bright orange jacket and lifted up his black undershirt to look at the afflicted area.

"What the hell is this?" he asked to no one in particular. The Kyuubi's seal was there just like always, but there seemed to be a new layer to it. Five swirl patterns, to be exact. "I guess someone must have tagged Boss with something. What's this thing supposed to do, though?"

The pain lingered for a while, and the clones were quickly growing bored with doing nothing. Clone 89 in particular was voicing his irritation. "Oh come on!" he exclaimed, "How much longer is Boss gonna make us wait before we pop!? I'm tired of this! Someone hit me!"

A deft swat to the back of the head sent eighty-nine stumbling forward, rubbing his head tenderly. The sound had attracted the attention of all the clones in the group. While they thought it would be funny to see one of their more annoying comrades turn into a cloud of smoke, they froze and the area grew eerily quiet when nothing happened.

"That…that hurt? That hurt!" he shouted. All the clones' eyes were open wide with that statement. How could that hurt? Any clone who took enough of a hit to experience pain of any sort should be dispelled instantly. The mere fact that a Kage Bunshin could experience pain was just beyond their comprehension.

And when something was beyond Uzumaki Naruto's comprehension in a group entirely composed of Uzumaki Naruto, mass panic ensued.

Clone 43 was the first to react, and the one to have the strongest response to this information as well. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN'T DISPEL OURSELVES!? ARE WE STUCK HERE UNTIL BOSS COMES BACK!?" he yelled as he began running around panicked in circles. He himself ran into the trunk of a tree face-first, and screamed out loud as he felt the searing pain of the new gashes across his cheeks and nose. The injuries increased everyone's own sense of terror as they weren't used to seeing a clone of them damaged so much.

1000 seemed to be the only one who was keeping a level head. If they couldn't dispel themselves, they'd have to wait for Boss to get back so he could do it for them. The problem was that Boss was historically forgetful about where he'd leave his clones. Maybe they should send a messenger out, like they did when something happened to a battalion that had been left behind.

The first time they'd tried that it had been two hours on the training grounds since they'd been created. Given the nature of Konoha's environment as well as the setting of the sun, the animals of prey had begun their nightly hunts. Even after nearly half the force of two hundred clones had been dispelled, Boss still hadn't arrived to help out. At the end of the fight, ninety-nine clones had all gathered around one brave volunteer and screamed "GET BACK HERE AND POP US YOU IDIOT!" before piling on top of their brother and popping him. Naruto had arrived a minute later, and the issue had been taken care of.

The problem with that strategy, however, was that the clones this time around seemed to be a lot more durable than those who had come before. "Do we have a volunteer for a message to Boss? Maybe we can get his help if we send a messenger," 1000 offered, expressing his own thoughts. The battalion fell silent. They'd seen what had happened to 43. He'd taken enough damage to bleed – well, not so much bleed as start to leak out visible chakra into the air until the wounds closed - so exactly how durable were they? Sure, Boss had popped clones on his own before, but that was nothing like actually trying to kill anything that looked exactly like you did. The trauma would be…unbearable. None of them were suicidal, not like that at least.

As if the thought had registered with all of them, no response was given to this question. Clone 1000 nodded his head somberly. The only thing they could do now was make a camp and wait. "Okay then, we'll need you guys to start building tents. With around a thousand of us, we'll need to break up into ten groups of one hundred to make the most effective tents that balance size with comfort."

The clones nodded as they all set to work. In less than a half hour, a shelter resembling a short and long shack made from Lincoln Logs was made for each group. They avoided a fire, which was alright because with one-hundred clones per lodge body heat was easy to come across. However, none of that was really important now as it was the middle of the day. What the clones really needed to focus on was finding something to occupy their time.

"Hey wait!" clone 42 suddenly stated. All the other clones looked in his direction, eager to hear what he had to say. "If the exam is still going on, then don't we want to keep ourselves defended for as long as possible? I say we set up a perimeter of traps. Explosive tags, stink bombs, stuff like that is what's gonna keep us alive until Boss gets back."

1000 wasn't sure any of the other clones hadn't caught the fact that forty-two had used the word "alive." They were Kage Bunshin; they weren't alive on principle. The very idea that they could be so sent a chill down his spine. If they were alive, then so were all the clones that had been dispelled before. And if those clones were alive, then had they all actually experienced a death when they'd popped?

No, that was impossible. Boss would have known if one of his clones had actually died, and since Boss would know, then they'd all know. Besides, Boss wouldn't keep making clones he would send off to die just so he could win fights. If so, then he wouldn't be Boss, he'd just be some sick and twisted General in charge of an army as limitless as his chakra supply. 1000 could never call a man like that his Boss.

No, he had to have faith in the man. He'd come back to dispel them all. They were his comrades, after all. Kakashi-sensei had taught them that those who abandoned their comrades were worse than trash, and if Boss let his comrades do something as horrible as die by the thousand on top of simply forgetting where they were half the time, then he would be the biggest piece of trash on the planet.

1000 chuckled. During his introspection another clone had set up a team to start laying traps in a five-hundred meter radius from the center of camp. That alone would take until nightfall, which was good. 1000 didn't know if they needed sleep, but it couldn't hurt them to try it out. They were bound to get tired or low on chakra eventually, though the latter might be a more permanent issue. Since they were clones, they lacked the life force to actually power the creation of chakra. They were usually stuck with whatever they'd been given upon creation. After that ran out…well…poof.

That was an interesting idea to try out. Could they pop themselves due to chakra exhaustion? That was a far less morbid option than pummeling a clone until he hit his new and improved breaking point. 1000 nodded and set to work dashing up the closest tree. He'd run laps like this until his chakra dissipated, and once that happened he'd pop and carry the memories of the forgotten tribe of clones to Boss. He'd come back and dispel them for sure after that.

Hours passed, and clone 1000 had gathered a crowd of onlookers. They were mumbling about just what it was he was doing, asking if he had gone insane or something. 1000 snorted at this. He wasn't insane; he'd show them all just what he was up to once he popped. No matter how drenched in sweat and exhausted he was, he had to keep pushing. He'd hit the popping point sooner or later. He had to, seeing as he was a clone.

The thoroughly sweat-drenched clone smirked to himself as he thought this. Unfortunately, the lapse in concentration cost him dearly. His already flickering chakra seemed to all but shut off, whether this was out of a survival instinct or that he'd actually lost focus he'd never know. As a result of this, his feet no longer stuck to the tree to power the climbing exercise, and he slipped and fell nearly fifty feet before impacting the ground.

That was it. No cloud of smoke signifying the pop of a clone, no shout of pain, just a sweaty body slamming to the earth with its eyes shut and breaths heavy. Clone 1000 had knocked himself unconscious. The very notion of this instantly set clone 43 back on his fearful rampage, screaming that they'd somehow lost their ability to pop, or that they might have to die before they did. Several of the other clones shared shocked expressions as they looked back and forth to one another, trying to think of what to do.

"Alright, I've seen enough!" one clone in particular spouted, working his way to the front of the crowd. "It's obvious that we can't pop so easily anymore. The question you're all probably asking yourselves is why we've lost that weakness. Are we alive now? Did Boss accidently discover some way to make us more stable when he was in that snake's gut? I don't know, nor do I really care. What matters to me now is surviving the night and avoiding a run-in with any other teams taking the exams," he said.

"But what about Boss? He probably knows how to dispel us, can't we just wait for him to come back?" asked another clone, the number of which nobody cared to recall.

"Boss is forgetful, and because of that we can't afford to take any chances. We have a perimeter of traps set up already, but we need to set up night watch until we can get a wall built. Complicated construction like that is bound to attract attention though, so we shouldn't build anything until the end of the exams."

"Well, what about the shacks? Those were harder to build than any kind of wall we could think up, and we haven't been attacked yet. I think you're just power hungry!" one clone piped up. Several others seemed to agree with this, and soon cries of how they could do whatever they wanted and other childish claims echoed throughout the surrounding area. Clone 100 quickly grew impatient with the mob of overwhelming stupidity he'd run into. It looked like he'd need to show them why construction would have to wait.

"Do you want to know why we can't just start building during the exams? Just look at that guy over there! He's unconscious! Do you know what that means?" Clone 100 began, silencing the uproar that had been started due to his words. He flicked his wrist and a dull grey kunai flew into his palm. He slid the across the back of his opposite hand and flinched with the sharp, stinging sensation that came with it. Blue chakra gushed forth from the wound, but 100 did not pop.

"We can be injured, we can feel pain, and I'm almost certain that means that we're capable of dying, too! We aren't just clones anymore! Whatever happened to Boss out there also affected us! Whatever it is, we're real! We're alive! Are you idiots willing to waste that life by not thinking your actions through!?"

The silence continued as chakra flowed rapidly out of Hundred's hand. If there was one thing you grew to respect as a clone, it was a life. Not only because you were deployed simply as a way to save one – at least most of the time that is, certain activities were also enjoyed by some less honorable clone users – in any sort of way, but because of just what Boss had been through.

For the most part, clones were used fairly regularly in higher-level missions that Shinobi participated in. Over the course of these missions, clones were almost always released with only one true objective in mind; they would protect the lives of their creators. Whether this was in a direct fashion though battle where a well-placed battalion of clones could serve as invaluable backup, or more subtly by going on a life-risking reconnaissance trip didn't matter, a clone existed for the sole purpose to making their creator's life safer.

So, with that being said it was no wonder that the current batch of Naruto clones were in such disarray. When they weren't actively trying to make Naruto's life easier, they were probably only a few seconds away from being popped. They had no idea how long this newfound permanence of freedom would last, and they wanted to take full advantage of it while they could. In spite of all that, 100 had reminded them of something they'd all forgotten. Life was precious.

They had all of the original Naruto's memories, including the sad ones. All the emotions Naruto had regarding death were theirs to partake in. Growing up with people who would constantly tell him how much they wished he'd never been born stung, but it made the boy cling to his life like it was his most precious treasure. Seeing friends and mentors risk their lives to protect him widened this horizon; protecting the lives of people precious to him was just as important as protecting his own life.

That alone wasn't enough, though. Zabuza, a man who Naruto had viewed as a complete monster, had precious people he was willing to give his life to protect – or at the very least avenge. It wasn't just him or the people he cared about whose lives were important. Everyone had someone they cared about or who cared about them. Even back as a toddler growing up in the orphanage, Naruto remembered when Old Man Hokage would take the afternoon off and spend some time with him.

To a clone, and perhaps especially to a clone of Naruto, life was something that needed to be protected fiercely. You needed to hold a blade in one hand and life tightly to your chest in another. If the clones really were alive, then…

"So you get it now, right?" One-Hundred asked with a shadow of his previous outburst still in his voice. "If you're all so riled up to get something done, then how about we do something to grip firmly onto these lives that have been given to us? None of us are probably real good with words, but I say the least we can do is come up with names for introductions! Whaddya say?"

There was a collective round of applause and shouts of approval from the crowd. 100 – no, his name would just be Hyaku* now – smirked at this. Before, they would have all raised their fists into the air and let out one unified cheer. There was already some individuality starting to bloom among this little tribe.

Clone 1000, dubbed Sen by the crowd shortly after specific monikers were chosen for all the conscious members of the group, awoke shortly after the names and introductions were given. He was surprised at first that his brothers had called him by any name at all, let alone such a strange one. He was still very much under the impression that they were clones, even after viewing the wounds they were capable of receiving. After all, how could they be anything but clones? They had simply been that to start out with, and no matter how much pain they could feel, they still couldn't bleed blood. None of them had a pulse. Something without a physical body couldn't be alive, could it? Yet somehow, seeing 100 – seeing _Hyaku_ – standing up and leading the clones with a sound mind and solid voice made him think that maybe, just maybe, they could be alive after all. And, since living things got names, he was fine with his. It was a little strange, but it was the one his brothers had given him, and that was more than enough.

So the clones had agreed to set to work after the exams had been finished. The thing was, though, no one knew just when they were over. Boss hadn't been paying attention when the time limit was given, so none of them had been paying attention either.

"We have to wait at least a couple of days!" Hyaku stated firmly, a gathering of six other clones sitting around him as they all formed a circle on the ground. He'd picked the six at random, seeing as there was no organization to this new cluster of individuals yet. Perhaps that made fair representation easier, though. They would debate amongst themselves as to just what they should do for now. They had nine-hundred and ninety-nine "men" on hand, and would need to decide wisely just how to use them.

"The goal for now is to build the best possible survival plan and keep going until Boss shows up to fix us, so what should we do until these exams finish to work towards that?"

Sen had been one of the ones chosen to come to the discussion. Maybe it was because more people would be familiar with him because of his antics, or maybe it was just luck of the draw. Still, it was interesting to be in on something like this. Basically everyone in the room had agreed on training, as no matter what they were just like their boss in the way that he was always striving to get better.

"Well what about taijutsu?" clone 18, who had elected to give himself the name Randou, asked.

"No way, we have to be really careful. One of us might die during the matches!" 43, named Abu, said with firm conviction. Sen sighed, rubbing his temples and increasing the intensity of the pressure applied as the yelling between the five clones besides Hyaku and himself steadily got louder and louder.

_"How the hell does he do it? If he's a clone just like the rest of us, then shouldn't he be more than willing to hop into the fray?"_ Sen thought, gazing at Hyaku with vested interest. Hyaku turned to catch the other clone's glance, and immediately smirked and rolled his eyes as if to say "Silly how hard it is to get along, isn't it?" Sen nodded. Couldn't they just find people to get along with?

Wait. That might work.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Sen yelled over the arguing. Things fell silent as Randou, Abu, and the others all looked directly at him.

"Well, if you have an idea that you think is best, I suppose we can be kind enough to allow it," 42, dubbed Tetsu, stated with a steely tone of intelligence behind his voice.

"Yeah, I do. Why don't you all just go out there and gather up a group to do whatever you want? Abu seems too freaked out to try any sort of training, but Randou is all riled up to get into a fight with anybody he can. You seem like a bookworm, so maybe you can go out and find some useful supplies or something, and this guy has been going on and on about food! Just go grab some guys who'd like to help out and get out of here!"

They all seemed to like that idea, as within minutes there were seven or eight groups off doing things like practicing taijutsu with Randou, combing the forest for edible things like berries, nuts, maybe even small animals like fish, working on their chakra control and ninjutsu under another clone who'd gone off with his own group, and assorted other activities.

Sen was watching all of this, trying to figure out exactly which group he wanted to join. He'd rather not look for food, as he still had plenty left in his ration pack, but if that group found some big game then who was to say that they had to share? He'd love to get some actual meat. Or ramen, but the chances of finding a wild ramen tree were disappointingly low.

Randou seemed to be fighting two other clones at once. How he was pulling that off Sen, would never know. They were all supposed to be of equal ability, after all. Maybe he was just a fighting maniac, like how Tetsu had taken a group of other clones on a "survival of the fittest raiding party" earlier. They'd also managed to snag most of the ninja tools from the other clones, and had built a rather spiffy looking storage unit for it all. He'd insisted that organization was key.

The ninjutsu group was appealing, but with such a limited range of things to practice Sen wondered if it would even be worth it. What Jutsu did they know, anyways? Henge, Kawarimi, and Kage Bunshin, that's what. Maybe he'd be better off trying to figure out how the cool ninjas did those elemental techniques or something.

"Nice job sorting them out like this back there," Hyaku said from behind Sen. Sen looked back, scratching his neck and looking down.

"Well, it's not like it was really my idea in the first place. I saw that look you gave me, y'know," he replied in a slightly embarrassed tone. "I'm not good with all this leader stuff, that's more you it seems like."

"Nonsense, you did fine. Even if it was my idea, I never told you what to do with it. We're not all that picky about how we spend our resources most of the time, after all."

"Then why divide us up into groups like this? We're not really doing anything productive, it seems like. I get that we'll have to wait until the exams finish up, but…"

"Actually, most of the other teams are already at the tower. The only ones left are the weaker groups that are still hunting around for scrolls. They wouldn't waste time on us anyways," Hyaku cut him off with a wide grin.

Sen was shocked. Would they really stall construction of a defense just so they could spend time doing…whatever it was they chose to do? What was Hyaku getting at with this plan? They were supposed to survive, weren't they? Why not track down Boss and get him to pop them? How the hell did he know where the other teams were?

Hyaku's laughter cut Sen's thoughts short. "I can tell you're a little stumped. I'll admit, I'm being a bit selfish here. I didn't want to do anything too fancy just yet because I didn't want to die, you see."

Sen actually had to take a step back with that statement. "What do you mean die? Boss is going to come along any time now and pop us, right?"

"That's just it. If we can't dispel ourselves, then why would Boss be able to? I think something happened to him that made us like this. Otherwise we would have popped on our own by now. Whatever's going on, Boss won't be coming back. Not soon, at least. That's why I think that for right now we should embrace this chance we've got and live life to the fullest, y'know?"

Hyaku's words struck a chord with Sen's spirit. This feeling of…could it be called admiration if the person you admired was yourself, or was this just some odd form of narcissism? Well, whatever it was, Sen realized that if anyone had a chance of getting all the clones through this ordeal, it would be Hyaku.

And screw this clone thing. Hyaku was right. They weren't just Kage Bunshin anymore. Whatever that odd black mark that had popped up on what Sen suspected was all of their stomachs was, it was obviously what had brought them to life.

"So you're trying to get them to express their originality by doing whatever they want, huh?" Sen asked with a smirk. Hyaku nodded, crossing his arms. "What is it that you want to do, then?"

Hyaku paused at this. A question like that couldn't really stump someone, could it? It was fairly simple, after all. Living things had wants, needs, and other things that made them who they were. Without those, how could you be alive? So surely if Hyaku was alive, he'd have something he wanted.

"I guess you could say…I wanna be the Hokage as much as Boss does, but not for the recognition. I just want to lead for the sake of people. How 'bout you, kid?"

With the tables so easily turned, Sen suddenly realized that his questions from before had been stupid. He never realized how hard it was to express what you wanted. He didn't want to make himself seem like a braggart with some huge goal, but at the same time he knew that Hyaku would know if he was just being humble and lying.

"I just…"

Sen looked out over the whole group of clones, training and otherwise causing a ruckus, and couldn't help but smirk to himself.

"I just want to live and be happy with everybody, I suppose."

"Those are some nice words, kid. Nice words, indeed," Hyaku replied. "Think you can back them up? You'll have to get pretty strong if you want to protect that dream of yours."

Sen stood there in thought, watching the sun pass down below the canopy of the forest. "Yeah, I'll do whatever it takes.

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><p><strong>I'm going to try posting this again. It wasn't very popular last time, but my opinions on popularity of a work have shifted since then. I want to write for myself mainly, but if other people can get a kick out of the read, then that's okay too. So tell me what you think. Drop a review, or favorite the work if you think it's that good. I'm beyond open to criticism, but remember the difference between that and just insulting the story, alright?<strong>

**A few notes:**

**The names for the clones are all based on either their number or a basic personality characteristic, maybe including puns. For instance, Hyaku and Sen are based off of the general counter words for 100 and 1000 respectively (Hyakuban and Senban). Their names do translate directly into the numbers 100 and 1000, but it would be great if everyone could bear with me on that.**

**Randou, Abu, and Tetsu are a little more complicated. Randou is composed of the Kanji for Rebellion and Road or Way, and is an actual Japanese name. It also hints to his aggressive personality. Abu is a play on words for "abunai" or dangerous. Tetsu can be linked to iron and philosophy, which again give hints to his personality.**

**I started this fic on a whim as a way to explore Kage Bunshin mechanics, but also to lampshade a coming of age story in a few ways using clones. I have some fun ideas planned out for the clones, as well as for Naruto in the future. If you like what I'm setting up, feel free to leave a review. I know that Naruto's over now, but I still think the base for fanfiction can be found.**


	2. The Henge Incident

**_Alright everyone. Thanks for the attention that the last chapter got. College is winding down for the semester, and soon I'll be ready to commit a bit more time to leisure activities. Bear in mind that with Kingdom Hearts II.5 in my possession that I'm likely to be...distracted. Still, same deal as always. I won't promise any sort of regular schedule, but I hope those of you that pick this up enjoy what amounts to me exploring an idea for pleasure._**

_**Standard disclaimers apply.  
><strong>_

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><p>"Yo Sen, reign it in already."<p>

"Gimme a few more minutes, Hyaku. I've almost got it."

"Fine, knock yourself out. See if I care."

Sen allowed himself to smirk as he charged at the lake again. The exam had ended yesterday, and the colony was already getting restless. Sen was probably the happiest of them to start making noise again. It had been a quiet few days since the clones discovered they weren't going anywhere any time soon, and nothing could lift his spirit faster than the crashing sounds of giant trees being felled to begin the construction of the long-awaited wall.

It was actually taking shape quite nicely. Naruto had never been one for carpentry, so naturally neither were his clones. However, Clone 261 – or Daiki, as he preferred to be called – was good with his hands and not afraid to show off the plan he'd been working on with the wall with a couple of his other Bunshin buddies. He also wasn't afraid to bark orders or butt heads with anyone who thought they could talk back to him about the design itself. From what Sen had seen, he was also a real slave driver.

Still, as the days passed trees were removed from the ground slowly but surely, and with the use of thousands upon thousands of kunai that now were in desperate need of a good grindstone there was a wall around the colony of Kage Bunshin that was about a kilometer across. Of course, it was less of a wall and more of a relocation of the larger trees in the area to surround the aforementioned log cabins, but Daiki swore that despite his subpar math skills, he knew how to measure the area of the circular wall that was quite reminiscent of Konoha's gates. If anyone could without a doubt prove that there was less than a square kilometer of space inside the walls, Daiki would eat his jacket.

Needless to say, the clones had been safely occupied for about four days into the post-exam lull. For any other group of construction workers it could have taken considerably longer to build such a massive project, but when you had nearly a thousand men to work with and a nearly unlimited chakra supply to go off of, things like building a rudimentary circle and a few log cabins was a simple matter even if your only building material was overgrown trees in a forest clearing.

It was when the work was done that the clones, Sen in particular, began to get restless. As Bunshin, it was their natural instinct to be doing something that at least seemed productive as often as possible, and the lack of work to do was making them uneasy. Soon they fell back into their own hobbies and cliques, much to the approval of Hyaku. Sen, on the other hand, was a different case entirely.

He seemed to have inherited Naruto's need for antics. As a result, he was often scheming things on his own. Of course, he hadn't unveiled any of his better ideas for pranks just yet, but those would be coming to light in due time. Right now, all he really wanted to do was figure this stupid chakra floating trick out.

It had started as a free-running stunt. Jumping from one tree to another was normally a practiced activity for ninja, but Sen had been breaking the primary rule of the activity. He was going far too fast for him to be able to stop quickly if he needed to. As a result, he ended up jumping straight through the foliage and directly over a very shallow lake. He wouldn't be able to fall without taking some sort of injury, and when the information that he might be able to die was presented all sorts of new, terror-filled possibilities came into play.

To make a very long fall into a very short story, Sen had pulsed a burst of chakra into his feet the second he hit the water, and as a result he sank about three feet almost like he was falling through syrup before he came to a quick halt. Of course, that lull in movement only lasted for about half a second before the water underneath him exploded, sending the Bunshin rocketing out of the water and into a very sturdy tree.

It was a good thing that Naruto was durable, otherwise Sen might have actually suffered a debilitating injury. Instead, he simply had to tote around a sore back for the next few days. This, of course, didn't stop the boy. Not now that he was on the war path.

"We can totally stand on top of water with chakra!" he had announced at the next meeting. Randou had laughed, Abu had made a comment about being afraid of drowning, and Tetsu had stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Kid, how the hell do you come up with this stuff? Chakra only sticks to solid stuff like trees and walls. Water isn't exactly sturdy enough to support your weight," Randou said.

"Well how the hell else do you explain what happened to me in the river?" Sen pushed. Randou rolled his eyes and grinned, almost like he had everything figured out.

"Any idiot can push enough chakra through their feet to hit the ground and repel him out of the water. What you felt was a whole 'nuther animal from what you think it was. Look kid, we get it. You feel like you need to contribute something to the group. Hyaku organized this whole mess, and did alright if you ask me. I've got my Taijutsu squad, Abu has his security forces, and Tetsu's got…whatever the hell it is that Tetsu does,"

"Research and development you idiot!" Tetsu broke in, and it was a good thing that he did. If Randou had carried on then Sen would have been more than happy to mess up his face. But aside from Sen's angry thoughts, not a lot seemed to be discouraging Randou from opening his mouth again.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. The point is, you're only here because of the stunts you keep pulling. You keep morale up. It's nice, but you know that it really isn't doing anything for us as a community. You think that by gallivanting around you can start making huge breakthroughs and be some kinda genius and that we'll keep you around a little longer. I get it, I really do, but you're just being stupid."

One solid punch, and Randou was flying across the room. The intensity in the room roared like an inferno as Randou caught himself against a wall, dropping into a gravity-defying crouch against the vertical surface as he leapt at Sen.

"You wanna fight, you little prick? Come on, let's go!"

Sen readied another haymaker for Randou's face. He wouldn't be bad-mouthed like that.

Then, in the milliseconds after Sen had thrown his punch and Randou had gone in for a grab at Sen's throat, Hyaku moved.

He was faster than Sen could even register, having smashed his left palm into Randou's face and deftly swatted away the haymaker Sen had put all his power behind like it was nothing at the same time. Randou was once again sent flying back, but this time wasn't of the state of mind to catch himself as he was too busy focusing on the chakra streaming out of his definitely broken nose.

"I won't tolerate any fighting during my council meetings, is that clear?" Hyaku stated, a cocky grin on his face. "You're welcome to take any problems you have up with me outside once we're done. As for now, let me think about what to do with Sen's idea about floating on water while you two calm down."

Hyaku had taken a second to form his opinion on the idea, leaving Sen to wonder nervously about what had happened during the scuffle between himself and Randou. The difference in their abilities shouldn't be too vastly different. As for physical strength and speed, Randou should be ahead if anything. He was training the most intensely out of any of them when it came to taijutsu, and all Hyaku had done for the past few weeks was direct the workers around the wall. How had he gotten between them so quickly?

Well, whatever reasons there were behind Hyaku's sudden display of skills, it wasn't important right now. He was smiling Naruto's foxy smile, which meant he was definitely up to something. "Alright Sen, figure out how to do this floating trick of yours and then teach anyone who's interested. If you give it up, we'll just suppose it's impossible after all and Randou'll get bragging rights."

"Yosh!" Randou exclaimed throwing his fist up in the air just long enough to let more chakra come leaking out his nose before he quickly covered it again, wincing at the pain.

So that was his game, huh? He wanted to make the differences between each clone even more immense. Of course, Sen had no objection to that. He would get to experiment with things, and Hyaku getting to be a manipulative bastard like he seemed to enjoy doing was just a side effect. Then again, was it really considered being manipulative if you wanted to see how things would turn out if they were allowed to progress naturally? If anything, Hyaku was un-manipulating them.

Ugh, politics just really weren't Sen's thing. He preferred training. Or in this case, trying to float with his chakra. Why did it have to be so damn **hard** though? Maybe it had something to do with that weird seal on all their guts. He had heard the ninjutsu side making complaints about how their skills suddenly sucked. They seemed incapable of even pulling off a simple transformation. It wasn't that they weren't doing it right. The chakra simply wouldn't mold when compelled to and the jutsu wouldn't trigger because of it.

"Geez, stupid swirly seal thing! When are you going to come off!?" Sen mumbled, surfacing from yet another failed attempt to walk on water. Of course, if Sen had been paying attention to his gut, he'd have noticed that just as he said this the seal had faded away.

* * *

><p>Off and away, back in the main city of Konoha, the original Naruto had been on a slight adventure of his own. Knowing full well that the instructor with the weird sunglasses and a hyperactive libido quite literally spilling out of the closet he'd shoved it in was just Kakashi-sensei's poor grab for an excuse to focus on his favorite student while he left the other one in the dust, the blonde had decided that if he was going to get any real training done that he'd have to do it himself.<p>

And that was the exact moment that he'd bumped into the white haired lecher by the bath houses.

Naruto was quick to call him out for being a pervert. Given the piercing nature of his high pitched voice, the women that the man had been "researching" were quick to identify the culprit, but equally quick to decide that the blonde's presence was as much an affront to their privacy as the elderly man's. The result had been a barrage of wash buckets, wooden sandals, and other objects all aimed at the two males with the precision and force of a Jounin with his favorite set of kunai.

Thinking more out of reflex than reason, Jiraiya opted to grab Naruto by the collar and shoot away from the bath house as fast as he charka infused legs would carry him. That was pretty fast, of course. Not that he was a braggart or anything.

The white haired man was quickly able to put two and two together and see that the boy who had foiled his research was also the son of his former student. It was an odd first meeting, and it wasn't like he could have just come out at random and tell the boy that he was his godfather. That might have made things a little awkward. Instead, the sage figured that now was a better time than any to start spending some time with his godson. What better way to do that than give him some of the training he appeared to so desperately need?

And boy, did he need it.

He'd heard from Sarutobi-sensei that the boy's chakra control hadn't been all that great – at least according to Kakashi, who was good enough to be trusted. Still, he hadn't expected it to be this...abysmal, for lack of a better term.

A lingering feeling bloomed in his mind as he associated it with the seal. Could it be doing something now that it was starting to unwind and let some of the chakra of the fox leak through?

He called Naruto over and had the boy remove his jacket and shirt under the guise of it just weighing him down if he fell in again. Not that the extra stamina training would hurt the boy; it was the sort of exercise that wouldn't even put a dent in his energy levels. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the modification to the array that had been made. He'd have to talk about his old teammate with Sarutobi-sensei after the kid either got this down or fell over and went to bed for the day.

It was a good thing that Fuuinjutsu had always been the one thing he was naturally better at than Orochimaru, Jiraiya thought as he prepped and applied the counter-seal directly to the blonde's gut.

If getting the kid with a sucker punch was really this easy, it was a miracle that Orochimaru hadn't killed the kid. That Uchiha kid on his team was probably pretty handy to have around.

"Ero-sennin, what the hell'd you do that for!?" Naruto sputtered, rubbing his now tender stomach. He'd been trying to walk on water for what felt like hours now. This old perv had told him it was possible; he'd even demonstrated the technique. Still, Naruto had no idea how he was supposed to do it.

He'd wanted to get away from pervy instructors and their obsession with him mastering the boring basics before learning anything cool, and while walking on water was pretty cool in its own right, it was still a chakra control exercise and utterly boring to the blonde. It didn't help that this old guy was a bigger perv than Ebisu, either. He held no qualms with demanding Naruto use his Oiroke no Jutsu every now and again just to keep training him.

"Maa, just applying a massage to open up your chakra pathways. Try the exercise one more time, see how it works for ya. And if you want another hint, remember the deal we made. Tits for tat, if you know what I mean."

"I hate you so much right now," the blonde grumbled.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Hyaku! Check it out!" Sen yelled, dashing towards the blonde. Well, perhaps blonde wouldn't be descriptive enough, seeing as they all really looked the same. Regardless of how the clones could somehow manage to tell one another apart, Hyaku turned to face Sen and immediately flashed a foxy grin at the boy.<p>

"So you figured it out after all? Good. Seventy-two – sorry, Natsu – wanted to talk to you about that idea of yours. He said if you got it working to find you, so thanks for making my job easier," Hyaku joked. Sen grinned, hopping off the water as if it were solid ground. Once he'd gotten the process of transferring chakra into the water and keeping it in a decent level of output he'd barely had any trouble starting the walking process save for a few tweaks he'd had to make to his balance to suit the water. From there, running was naturally the next step, and then onto what he was working on now, which was…well, that was a surprise for later. He liked to keep his secrets, after all.

"Sure, no problem. I'll go track him down. The chakra control boost that you can get by doing the exercise should help,"

"Hyaku, get over here now! Something's messed up!" Abu yelled, running towards Hyaku as fast as he could. The council member's eyebrows quirked at Abu's strange – no, they couldn't call it strange if the boy was always freaking out over something – behavior.

"'Sup Abu? What's going on?" Hyaku asked.

"Natsu and the rest of the ninjutsu group were trying to Henge, and five of 'em finally got it to work, but they can't change back!"

"What?" Sen shouted, his brow curving upwards in slight shock. Henge was their specialty at this point, there was no way that once they'd gotten it working that they couldn't undo it. Hell, the Oiroke needed a working Henge to even function. There was no way that they wouldn't be able to try it.

"Five of the clones…I'm not sure which ones, which scares me even more now…They tried to Henge, and they got it to work unlike before when it wouldn't, and now they're saying they can't change back!" Abu responded.

"Show me," Hyaku said, his gaze narrowing.

Abu took off back in the direction he came from with Sen and Hyaku tailing close behind. They arrived about a minute later in the clearing that most of the clones trained in. The only difference was that no one was training anymore, and that the clones apparently weren't the only ones there. The newcomers had been surrounded by the group of Bunshin. All nine-hundred ninety-four of them.

"Outta my way, I need to see what's going on," Hyaku announced. He had shouldered their way into the center to meet with the newcomers, leaving Sen to struggle in his attempts to move through the crowd that seemed hell bent against letting him through. He could only just hear the conversation that Hyaku was having with Abu.

"These are clones, Abu?" the hundredth clone asked. Sen thought it was strange. Of course they were clones. Not only had Abu told them that they were performing a transformation and got stuck, but every one of Naruto's clones could have been able to tell who was a clone and who wasn't just by looking. At least Naruto's Kage Bunshin could. How else were they supposed to know which one of them was the one that needed to be protected more than the others?

"Don't tell me you don't think they are either. Nobody believes me! I saw it with my own eyes! Five of the clones transformed into these guys and…I don't know what happened after that!"

"I wouldn't expect you to know much about what happened seeing as you never were the type to pay attention to anything besides noodles and broth," a harsh sounding voice proclaimed. That level of verbal venom could only come from one source, and if the flash of bubblegum pink hair wasn't some strange optical illusion, Sen had a pretty good guess as to who was in the middle of the circle.

When the hell did Sakura get here?

* * *

><p>It was certainly hard being the leader of one of the main powers of the Shinobi World. Sarutobi Hiruzen was feeling that weight more now than he had in a long time. If the sheer political tension of hosting the Chunin Exams wasn't getting to him, the mountains of paperwork and the reported presence of not only one but two of his former students in the village had.<p>

"Hokage-sama."

The voice was quickly followed by the appearance on some ANBU agent or another. Hiruzen really couldn't be bothered to keep track of them right now. He'd read mission reports later and catch up.

"What could it possibly be this time?" It was evident that the Hokage's patience was wearing thin.

"My apologies, sir. The preliminary investigation of training ground forty-four has been completed. The results didn't turn up any hints as to Orochimaru's location, but…"

"Out with it! I'm not getting any younger and I certainly don't have all day to wait," Sarutobi growled, momentarily lifting his mouth from interlaced fingers to reveal his irritated snarl.

"Again, my apologies," Ookami stated, lowering his head slightly as he continued. "It seems that Uzumaki Naruto is using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to construct a small village in the middle of training ground 44. We're not sure why, but it seems that their numbers are immense, and have shown no signs of dispelling in the past week."

"No, no. You have my apologies, Ookami. The stress of this job is getting to me. I'm sure Naruto isn't doing anything too dangerous. For now, keep an eye on him until I say otherwise."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the wolf-masked ANBU said, his back straightening and bringing up one hand in the half-ram sign, using a quick Shunshin to leave the room. Upon his exit, Hiruzen visibly deflated back into his chair. He was certain that one day the stress of this job would kill him. Why couldn't things be simple anymore? His teachers seemed to have been able to beat their way down the paths they liked and suffer little to no consequence for it. Now he had to deal with the civilian council, being pulled in nine different directions by the different clans, a slew of foreign ninja in his village, and the return of his traitor of a former student all at the same time without taking his Kongou Nyoi to any of them. Politics, in his humble opinion, were the scourge of the Shinobi world.

Still, he could probably afford to not snap at his ANBU with misplaced aggression.

_"Well, back to my paperwork…the __**other**__ scourge of the Shinobi world,"_ Hiruzen thought as he picked up his pen and going back to signing documents. _"Maybe __I__ should use Kage Bunshin to get this done for once. Then again, even if I do it would probably be a struggle to get him to do his work. With my silver tongue, I'd probably end up thinking I was the clone."_

* * *

><p>Sen had been mistaken when he thought Sakura had returned to the forest. With any luck, Team Seven was back in Konoha safe and sound. Still, the fact that a Henge could work so effectively on the rest of the clones – even ones who had seen the jutsu being performed – was astounding. And it wasn't just that the clones looked different now that they were transformed. They were different on an entirely new level.<p>

None of them could even tell that the images of Sakura, Sasuke, Lee, Kiba, or Iruka were clones.

Normally for clones, it was very easy to distinguish between other clones of the same lot. Groups of Kage Bunshin needed to be able to instinctively tell the difference between a clone and their creator in battle to effectively defend their boss. After all, if Naruto got knocked out or died, they'd all vanish.

That just wasn't the case anymore, it seemed.

The only other time that Sen could think of where they'd run into this was when Kakashi-sensei had transformed into Naruto to land that Sennen Goroshi enema technique thing. Back then, Naruto hadn't been able to tell his clones apart, and it wasn't like he had the jutsu mastered by any extension of the word at that point, either. Kakashi had been smart to see the confusion in the ranks and take advantage of it. It was one of the things that made him a Jounin, Sen supposed.

As for fixing the problem at hand now, Natsu had offered the suggestion that they simply apply another Henge over the first one. What wasn't expected, however, was that there seemed to be this whole other level of chakra molding and finesse that was required before one could even think about layering one Henge on top of another. Who knew the learning curve for Genjutsu was so steep?

Regardless, it seemed to Sen as well as all the others that they'd be stuck with Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, Lee, and Kiba for a while. The only problems this seemed to cause were that Lee kept screaming about the power of Youth and hitting on the Sakura clone – which totally _wasn't_ weird when you thought about it – and all the clones seemed to be determined on defeating Sasuke and Kakashi in battle.

Meanwhile, the compound – now colloquially being referred to as a village – was continuing to improve. There was one clone in particular who had named himself after his favorite restaurant that had started up a farm just outside the village where the trees had been cleared. How he had gone about finding the means to start growing crops was beyond everybody, but as he was so keen on screaming at the top of his lungs, the quest for ramen was a noble and valiant one filled with mysterious paths open only to those willing to look for them.

Randou and his group of taijutsu specialists had recently started alienating Natsu and his Ninjutsu group at around the same time that the Ninjutsu practitioners had accepted Sen's teachings of water walking. Hyaku had shrugged his shoulders at this, saying that if Randou wanted to throw a fit about being proven wrong then he could. No one knew why, but he had disappeared for a few days a while back, and wouldn't speak of where he'd been. Hyaku had refused to acknowledge it even to the council, leaving Sen a bit worried. Still, he found a distraction in a few well timed pranks on Randou and his taijutsu minions.

The development with Sakura had been a tad strange, to say the least. Naruto had always had a bit of a thing for her, who had always had a bit of a thing for Sasuke. So, in the times that Sakura wasn't frantically searching for the pseudo-Uchiha, she was often subject to the affections of several of the residents of the village. None of the council took part, of course. There were things that needed to be done that left little to no time for crushes or giant swollen bumps to the head thanks to the pink haired girl's fists. Was it just Sen, or was Sakura more violent as a Henge Kage Bunshin than a real person?

Regardless of how Lee drove the Taijutsu group absolutely crazy, or how Natsu practically begged Sasuke to teach him a fire technique that he somehow knew how to do despite being a clone of Naruto, or the way that the Henge Kage Bunshin seemed to be less Naruto and more Kiba, Lee, Sakura, Sasuke, and Iruka-sensei by the day, the entire village seemed to grow closer as time stretched on. At one point or another throughout all of this, it was decided that the place finally needed – hell, deserved – a name, and what a tricky process that was.

"I still say we call it Narutogakure!" One of the many unidentifiable voices in the crowd that had gathered for the meeting yelled.

"Oh who the hell calls a village the Hidden Naruto? The name makes it seem like we're hiding something with all of us around here!"

Names flew around like kunai and shuriken in a ranged weapons battle. Shinigakure, because they were in the forest of death, Kigakure because it was made out of trees, Ramengakure because they all loved ramen and it was a delicacy that would reflect the refinement of their culture. It was ridiculous.

"What about you, Sen?" Hyaku asked, an amused smirk on his face.

Sen looked up from the scroll he had been absorbed in, taking notes on the chakra control exercises he was currently thinking up. It was weird how the possibilities with chakra seemed endless to him now. Naruto had made a thousand copies of himself, and something else – some kind of seal – had made them permanent. What else could be done? It was pretty distracting, to be honest. "Me?"

"Yeah, you're probably the only one with a level head around here right now. What do you think we should call the village?"

_'What should we call it?'_ he thought. The other hidden villages all had really simple ones. Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Kirigakure, and the rest all got the point across as to where it was well.

"Why don't we just call it Morigakure, if it has to have a name?" Sen offered.

Hyaku nodded and gave his usual, approving grin. "Sounds good, we'll put it up to a vote."

Surprisingly, the group seemed to like it. Randou had disapproved of course, thinking it best that they base their name off of Konoha which lead to the name Kigakure. Even with the blinding support of his taijutsu faction though, he still lost out and stalked off in grumbling anger.

With that, Morigakure no Sato was founded.

* * *

><p>While all of this was going on in The Forest of Death, Ookami was keeping a close eye on the village. Personally, he had mixed emotions as to what was going on. Plenty had happened that he should be going to tell the Hokage about, but at the same time the final rounds of the Chunin Exams were approaching. What was more worthy of the Hokage's time? Addressing the incoming foreign diplomats, or taking care of what was barely worth considering a seceding faction of the village made of what technically amounted to one Genin?<p>

Ah, secession. In the Elemental Nations, that word was almost like a poison. You couldn't simply split all ties with your village and form your own, especially not within that same village's borders. There was a process of removing any known village secret from your memories that took days, sometimes weeks for those in the loop, and it was painful to boot from what Ookami knew.

Not only that, but any ninja attempting to do so without undergoing the process was technically considered a Nukenin. Did they really need a thousand – give or take – Nukenin Naruto clones running around inside the village borders? Well, technically as long as the original was loyal to Konoha the process of removing any threats was easy enough, but still…

No wonder the use of the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was forbidden. Situations like these were just too odd for normal logic to apply.

"They'll run out of chakra and dispel eventually," Ookami told himself, finally giving up. "After all, Naruto has a lot of chakra, but not that much. I'll give Hokage-sama a full report once that happens. He'll be busy enough with all that's going on around here as it is."

* * *

><p><strong><em>All right, that's a wrap. Feel free to leave reviews, subscribe, whatever. Corrections to my very loosely edits are welcome. I ride people hard for their grammar, spelling, and syntax when I get the chance to edit anything, so I don't expect to be ridden about it less hard by anyone else.<br>_**

**_Any questions you guys have can be answered through PM and probably a subsequent edit to the chapter itself or later elaboration in an upcoming one._**

**_Hope you all like it so far.  
><em>**


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